There doesn't seem to be any science behind this at all it just seems like bad politics to me...!!...any thoughts folks?..... It makes me very sad to be honest I think Badgers are really beautiful there must be an alternative surely?

All that I have read seems to suggest there is no rhyme nor reason for this. Surely, if they find the badgers, they can test them for TB and tag them if clean? Those infected with TB should be dealt with, but I see no need for indiscriminate slaughter.

If they are doing this thing, which seems random and not the best way to deal with the problem, I don't get why they aren't testing those killed for TB because it would seem to me good science to collect all relevant data - and I'd assume that the issue of how many killed are infected is very relevant.

I watched stuff on the telly this morning where the minister responsible didn't answer the question of what percentage impact would this make now. He immediately started talking about 25 years...I mean 25 fucking years of killing and they aren't getting their facts right in the first instance.

Bugger it, I'd love to see a badger in the wild. I recognise entirely that many farmers live a life on the edge and aren't all the stereotypical wealthy farmer cashing in on EU subsidies etc and wouldn't want a world where we have no sustainable agriculture in our country and that TB is a terrifying issue for them...but there seems to be no clear scientific case for just killing whatever appears in the gunsights.

I don't agree with it, as said above it is indiscriminate, they should be testing the badgers not just killing them all in one blanket action.

It is supposed to be "humane" - what if these people kill a mother out looking for food for the cubs, how much more suffering will that cause?!

I saw the bit on the BBC this morning and the politician did skip rather neatly over the facts and figures - I have a recall of them saying though that TB would be down by about 26% after the cull. Doesn't seem enough to me to justify killing these beautiful creatures.

From what I understand, there's no conclusive proof that bovine TB is spread by badgers - am I right in that? The cull doesn't look to be very effective anyhow & it seems like it's being conducted in a very haphazard manner. And I can't believe a vaccine is ten years away, as they say. What they mean is they're not actually willing to spend money to develop one. Having said that, isn't a vaccination programme being trialled in some places. Of course bovine TB needs to be stopped, but I really think the badger cull is a terribly short sighted 'solution'.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: "Bovine TB is an infectious disease that is spreading across the country and devastating our cattle and dairy industries."We know that, despite the strict controls we already have in place, we won’t get on top of this terrible disease until we start dealing with the infection in badgers as well as in cattle. That’s the clear lesson from Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the USA...............The disease, related to the bacterium which causes tuberculosis in humans, led to over 28,000 cattle being culled in England in 2012.

There's absolutely no sound science behind this cull. TB has actually been declining! It's just a means to appease farmers & pave the way to repeal the hunting act. DEFRA has admitted this cull is not to test for TB but to assess the HUMANENESS of shooting them!!!Makes my blood boil!AND the so called "professional marksmen" are basically the kind that engage in badger baiting! There's a FB page where the scumbags brag & post photos of the poor things before and after being shot!